"hah"

Currently, Amon was sitting on one of the broken walls, wondering what to do. His both legs dangling in mid air.

Just a few days ago, he had given a survival exam, where he had to spend time alone in a forest. It was fun, since it wasn't really dangerous. Just an exam. If one took a critical hit, they were sent back to the safe zone.

He had already tried using his pager, but it was useless. It wasn't connecting at all. The connection was torn.

But this place… it was unknown. He didn't know where he was. What should he do? Should he walk through the forest and try to find a way out? Or find some village?

'Damn, this is a more grave situation than I thought. Not to mention this creepy forest. I don't even want to walk through it.'

He really was in the most dangerous situation he had ever been in.

"Well, nothing will change if I keep sitting here like this."

His dark eyes looked around him.

'I should check these buildings. Maybe I could find some useful information.'

Amon jumped down from the broken wall.

Thud!

His feet landed on the ground.

Amon pushed off the ground, the faint echo of his landing swallowed instantly by the heavy air.

The silence was the worst part. A deep, unnatural vacuum broken only by the mournful wind and the occasional drip of water.

He checked out three building. Didn't found out anything.

He turned toward the tallest structure this time. Two floors in total, arranged unevenly around the clearing like teeth pulled from a giant jaw.

The same structure he had climbed before. Amon strode toward it while whistling.

Whistle~ Whistle~

The interior was a hollow shell. Even on the ground floor, the air was cold and musty, smelling of damp stone and ancient decay. The dust was thick, clinging to his boots as he walked, disturbing the centuries-long stillness.

"It's too old. Who must have stayed at this place?"

He walked inside.

"Just broken rock and spiders," he muttered, sweeping his hand across a cracked stone pedestal near the center. The dust lifted and swirled in the faint beams of light cutting down from the ceiling.

He moved toward what might have been a corner office or a storage room, its entrance marked by a doorway that had partially crumbled.

Inside, more rubble. But as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he noticed something slightly different. A shape that wasn't random stone or organic growth.

It was rectangular.

Kneeling down, Amon carefully used his hand to brush away the layers of grime and grit from the object wedged half under a fallen section of wall. It wasn't stone, and it wasn't wood. It was a rectangular metal plate.

Amon pulled it up.

He held it in his hand and observed it. It was very old. There were some letters carved on it. There was a symbol on it, but it was scratched. Beyond understanding.

The only thing he could guess was that it was a circle. Inside it were some complex line structures, also scratched and unreadable.

But what caught his eyes were the words carved under the symbol. Just like the symbol, the words were also disfigured.

Though he could read the last word.

"…Avasthāna?… what's that supposed to mean? This place's name? Or… something else."

He couldn't tell.

He sighed and put the plate inside his ring.

Amon stood there for a few seconds, the faint sound of wind brushing past the broken walls.

"Guess that's all," he muttered.

He turned and continued inspecting the rest of the ground floor.

Every corner was the same. Collapsed stone, broken pillars, spider webs, and thick layers of dust. He checked behind fallen walls, under rubble, even cracks in the floor.

Nothing.

No weapons.

No documents.

No signs of recent activity.

It was as if whoever had once lived here had deliberately taken everything with them before leaving. Not leaving a single trace of themselves.

"Clean sweep…" Amon said quietly. "Too clean."

That made him uneasy.

Still, there was nothing more to find here.

He glanced toward the staircase inside the building. It spiraled upward along the inner wall, chipped and worn down by time.

"Well, no point staying here."

He walked toward it and began climbing.

The stairs creaked faintly under his weight, small bits of stone flaking off with every step. The air grew colder as he ascended, carrying the same stale scent of age and abandonment.

First floor.

He stepped onto the level and scanned the area.

Empty. Completely empty. Just old cracked walls and spider webs here and there.

The rooms were bare shells. No furniture, no markings, no objects of interest. Even the dust seemed untouched, spread evenly as if no one had walked here in centuries.

"It's like they erased themselves," Amon muttered.

He checked every room anyway, just to be sure.

Nothing.

Not even a scrap of cloth.

With a sigh, he moved back to the staircase.

"Last floor."

He climbed again, slower this time, senses sharp despite the silence.

Second floor.

Unlike the lower levels, this floor felt… different.

There was a door at the end of the corridor.

Still standing.

Amon frowned slightly. "That's new."

He approached carefully and pushed it open.

Creeeek.

Inside was a room. Small, old, and filled with dust.

But it wasn't empty.

There was a bed.

Amon blinked.

"…A bed?"

The wooden frame was worn and cracked, but still intact. The mattress on top looked ancient, stained, and carried a faint musty smell. But when he pressed down on it with his hand, it sank slightly.

Soft.

Surprisingly soft.

"Huh…"

He straightened and looked around the room.

There was nothing else. No table. No cabinet. No decorations. Just the bed, placed against the wall as if someone had used this room regularly.

"This must've been someone's sleeping quarters," he murmured.

Then he frowned. He wondered why there was only one room with a bed in it. The other rooms were empty, but this one had a bed.

'This looks super fishy… but I don't have a choice anyway.'

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